A golden arrival into Unalakleet: Mitch Seavey, with Burmeister to follow

A new race leader emerged on Sunday morning, and just in time to win a coveted prize on the Norton Sound coast.

Seward, Alaska’s Mitch Seavey was the first into the Unalakleet this morning. Moments after his arrival into the checkpoint – the first stopover on the so-called “Gold Coast,” a nod to the Seward Peninsula’s gold mining history – the 2004 Iditarod champion received the Gold Coast Award, $2,500 worth of gold nuggets.

Seavey quipped that “now, I have a retirement account.”

As Laureli Kinneen reports from Unalakleet, Aaron Burmeister – a musher who hails from another “Gold Coast” community, Nome – arrived just a few minutes later:

As of 1pm Sunday, both Mitch Seavey and Aaron Burmeister are still reported in the Unalakleet checkpoint, in first and second positions, respectively. Seavey’s 11-dog team arrived at 10:13am, followed by Burmeister’s 13 dogs at 10:27am (both times are Alaska Daylight Time).